CAT 2024 Slot 3 Exam Analysis: First Impression Paper Review, Difficulty Level, Good Attempts

CAT 2024 Slot 3 Analysis: IIM Calcutta has successfully concluded the CAT 2024 exams.  CAT 2024 Slot 1 was held from 8:30 am to 10:30 am while Slot 2 of the exam was held from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. CAT 2024 slot 3 exam was held from 4:30 PM to 6:40 PM. Candidates who have appeared for the exams can check the CAT 2024 exam analysis here.

Slot 1 exams were moderate to difficult in terms of the difficulty level while the Slot 2 exams were moderate. The exam pattern saw a slight change with 22 questions in the DILR section and a total of 68 questions in total.  Students who have appeared for the CAT 2024 for the last and final slot of CAT 2024 can check the analysis, exam paper review, initial response from students, and the expected cutoff for MBA admissions.

Also Read: CAT Answer Key 2024 LIVE Updates

CAT 2024 Slot 1 Analysis

According to experts, the CAT 2024 slot 1 examination was conducted in a smooth manner, barring a few reports of technical issues, which were quickly attended to by the authorities. The only surprise in the examination was that the number of questions marginally increased to 68 ( there were 66 Questions last year). This increase was done by adding two more questions to the DILR section. Students have mentioned the CAT 2024 Slot 1 exam to be moderate to difficult in terms of difficulty level. 

Also Read: CAT 2024 Slot 1 Exam Analysis: Check First Impressions, Paper Review, Difficulty Level, Good Attempts

CAT 2024 Slot 2 Analysis

According to students who have appeared for CAT 2024 slot 2 exams, the question paper consisted of a total of 68 questions with 24 questions from VARC, 22 questions from DILR, and 22 questions from QA.

Students have quoted that the Quant section is moderate to difficult in terms of difficulty level and also time-consuming. Questions in Slot 2 were from topics like number system, profit loss, ratio, mix and all, time and work, speed distance and time, logarithm, and geometric questions.

The VARC was the easiest in the CAT 2024 Slot 2 exam. Questions were asked from topics such as geographical facts - colonisation and spices states of India, Scientists and physicists, and fill in the blanks. No para jumble questions were asked inCAT 2024 Slot 2

Also Read: CAT 2024 Slot 2 Exam Analysis: Paper Review, Difficulty Level, Good Attempts

CAT 2024 Slot 3 Exam Details

The CAT 2024 Slot 3 exams is being held from 4:30 pm to 6:30 PM. Students appearing for the third and final slot of CAT 2024 are required to answer questions from the  Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Quantitative Aptitude (QA), and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning  (DILR) sections within a duration of 120 minutes. 

After the CAT 2024 Slot 3 exams conclude, the CAT Exam Analysis 2024 will be made available. Experts from the field will provide the complete analysis of the exam, the types of questions, difficulty level, and based on the analysis and the response of the students the expected cutoff to clear the CAT exam. 

Keep Visiting this page for initial responses from candidates and CAT slot 2 analysis

CAT 2024 Slot 3 Analysis

CAT 2024 Slot 3 Analysis: First Impression

• According to students who have appeared for the CAT 2024 Slot 3 exams the paper was balanced with four RCs including one on language, artificial intelligence and government policies related to liquor and space exploration. The overall difficulty level of the CAT 2024  slot 3 exam was easy to moderate. 
• Slot 3 also included 68 questions with the pattern remaining similar to the first and second slots. The VARC section had 24 questions while DILR and QA had 22 and 22 questions each.
• According to students the VARC Section was tough including topics like AI, ChatGPT, forecasting, para jumbles, and fill-in-the-blanks
• The QA section included a higher number of TITA questions with 22 questions of which five were easy and they were moderate in difficulty level. 
• The DILR section was easier as compared to others with 22 questions. The DI section included three sets one set with five questions and two sets with three questions each.

CAT 2024 Slot 3 Analysis by Experts

Analysis by TIME

Mr Ramnath Kanakadandi, Senior Course Director, T.I.M.E

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension:

The VARC section of Slot 3 was relatively easier than the morning and afternoon slots. The pattern remained the same across three slots – 16 from Reading Comprehension and 8 from Verbal Ability. Both the RC and the VA parts of this slot were the easiest among the three slots.

Overall, the four Reading Comprehension passages were fairly readable, and not difficult to comprehend. However, many of the questions were inference-based and required a thorough understanding of the author’s perspective. There were quite a few questions that were tricky in their phrasing, such as questions which had ‘triple negatives.’

The passage on ‘Impact of AI on Culture’ was a moderate read since most students would be familiar with the topic. However, the passage had a couple of difficult questions. Students could have attempted this passage towards the end of the section.

The passage on ‘Extinction of Languages’ was the easiest passage in the section. It was easy-moderate both in terms of readability and the difficulty of the questions. This passage was one that students could have confidently attempted.

The passage on ’Contamination of Mars’ was the toughest of the lot, with some unfamiliar references. The ideas discussed may have been difficult to comprehend for some students. The passage did have a couple of easy questions, though. Adept readers would have managed to answer 2 – 3 questions correctly from this passage. For students struggling with speed, this was the passage they could have skipped.

The passage on ‘Chinese Liquor’ was another doable passage. This was moderate at the reading level as well as at the questions level. This was another passage most students could have attempted with a high degree of accuracy.

The VA part was relatively easier compared to the other two slots. The Sentence Placement questions were mostly moderate, with one easy question. The Para Summary questions in this slot were easier compared to the other slots. The Odd One Out questions in this slot were more difficult than those in the morning slot but easier than those in the afternoon slot.

Overall, the section was of moderate difficulty and the easiest VARC section across the three slots.

A net score of 22 – 24 marks would be a decent score for a test-taker to be able to clear the cutoff.

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning:

The DILR section of the evening slot was slightly easier than the morning and afternoon slots, in terms of the difficulty. There were no changes in the section pattern across the slots. All three slots had five sets – two 5-question sets and three 4-question sets. While students had the advantage of having more choices, the way some of the sets were presented made it slightly difficult to select the right sets.

One notable difference between this slot and the other two slots is that the morning and afternoon slots had at least one difficult chart (the morning slot had a candlestick chart, and the afternoon slot had bubble charts). This slot had a bar graph and a line graph, which would have been a relief for students.

There were two sets that were doable and one set which could have been doable for some of the students, though not all. Those who selected sets after properly understanding the information given in the sets would have been well placed to get their selection right.

The set wise details are as below:

The set on “ATM Network” was a 5-question Quant Based Reasoning set. There were three rows and three columns, with six slots, and ATM machines had to be placed in these slots. Students said that there was not a lot of information given in the conditions and each condition had multiple possibilities, which made figuring out the first step itself difficult. But once this step was figured out, the rest of the set was doable. Students could have attempted this one provided they cracked the first step. Otherwise, skipping the set would have been a better choice.

The set on “Content in Food Grains” was a 4-question Quant Based Reasoning set. But the set was pretty lengthy and involved a lot of reasoning, which made it quite time-consuming and difficult to solve the set. Students could have skipped this one.

The set on “AC Temperature” was a 5-question Line Graph set. One had to figure out how the temperature changed at different times based on the given graph. While the conditions did give a fair amount of information, the set was slightly difficult with parts of the set being reasoning intense, which could have posed some trouble. This was a set that students need not have attempted.

The set on “OTT users” was a 4-question Bar Graph Set. There was also a table provided in the set, which was not hard to interpret. There was not a lot of reasoning involved in the set, which made it a good set to select. This was the easiest set in the section and students should have attempted this.

The set on “Countries GDP” was a 4-question Table based DI set. The information given pertained to GDP and population of countries. The information given was in terms of percentage values in comparison to another country, which made finding the values a tad difficult for students to solve it. Because the set was difficult, skipping the set would have been a good choice.

Overall, the section could be deemed difficult, albeit slightly easier than Slots 1 and 2. Those who have taken a good number of AIMCATs would have come across a similar distribution of sets across DI and LR and were relatively well placed to select the right sets.

A net score of 18 – 20 marks should suffice for the candidate to clear the sectional cut-off of 85 percentile.

Quantitative Ability:

The QA section of Slot 3 was relatively easier compared to Slot 1 and Slot 2. Overall, this year’s QA is decidedly easier than last year’s QA. Students who heard the feedback about the other two slots and expected a not-so-tough QA section, thankfully, were not in for any rude surprises. This slot also had a good number of questions that tested students on the application of concepts and those who’ve been thorough with their revision of the concepts would have done well.

The section had 2 easy, 14 moderately difficult and 6 difficult questions. Those who were able to identify the easy and moderately difficult questions are likely to end up with a high percentile. Compared to the other two slots, there were not many questions which had a lot of text that were time consuming. Just like the other two slots, there were a few questions that seemed easy but were a tad time consuming. 17 of the 22 questions in the section were from Arithmetic (13) and Algebra (4), with only five questions from Geometry (3) and Modern Maths (2). Compared to Slot 2, this section had fewer questions from Algebra, while the distribution of questions across topics was more or less the same.

The distribution of questions in this section across topics is as follows:

A net score of 16 – 18 marks would be a decent score for a test-taker to be able to clear the cutoff.

Overall, a net score of 60 – 63 marks should be sufficient to score 90 percentile.

Analysis by IMS

The Third slot of CAT 2024 took place today between 4.30 and 6:30 pm.

The structure of CAT 2024 underwent several changes compared to 2023, with a total of 68 questions. As in Slots 1 and 2, the Verbal Ability (VA) and Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) sections experienced modifications in segmentation and the distribution of MCQs and TITA (Type In The Answer) questions. The Verbal section saw the complete removal of Paragraph Jumble questions. Instead, it featured 3 Summary (MCQ) questions, 3 Paragraph Completion (MCQ) questions, and 2 Odd Sentence (TITA) questions.

In the DILR section, which had 22 questions in total, the number of sets increased from 4 to 5. This included 2 sets with 5 questions each and 3 sets with 4 questions each. A comparison of the difficulty levels across the three slots of the CAT exam reveals that the difficulty was fairly consistent across all three sections.

The marking scheme was +3 for every correct and -1 for incorrect. There was no negative marking for TITA Qs. Based on the feedback received from several candidates who have appeared in the first slot, our initial estimate of the percentiles and scores is as follows. These estimates will be suitably revised soon after the CAT releases the response sheets. 

Students are advised not to take any B-School application decision based on these initial estimates. They serve only as the first indicator of likely performance.  

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

The VA-RC section consisted of 16 Reading Comprehension questions and 8 Verbal Ability questions. As in the past several years, there were no direct Grammar or Vocabulary questions. Two of the passages were easy to moderate. The passages on “Languages have become endangered” and “The need to regulate AI” required more careful reading. About 12 RC questions could be attempted with high accuracy. There were no jumbled paragraph questions. One additional paragraph completion question and one summary question replaced the two jumbled paragraphs. So, the section had 3 questions each of Summary (MCQ) and Paragraph Completion (MCQ), and two Odd Sentence questions (TITA). In VA, 5 or 6 attempts with high accuracy were possible. Overall, the section was moderate and comparable in LOD to the first two slots and to the VARC of SimCAT 16.  

An attempt of 10 or 11 questions with an accuracy of approximately 60% will fetch around 85%ile score in VARC.  

An attempt of 12 or 13 questions with an accuracy of approximately 70% will fetch 95+ percentiles in VARC.  

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

Last year, there were a total of four sets, each comprising five questions. This pattern has been changed in CAT 2024. There were two sets with 5 questions in each and three sets with 4 questions in each.

Overall, the Level of difficulty of the section was Easy to Medium and it was relatively easier in comparison with the DILR Section of Slot 3 of CAT 2023.

An attempt of 9 or 10 questions with an accuracy of approximately 80% will fetch around 85 %ile score in DILR.  

An attempt of 12 or 13 questions with an accuracy of approximately 85% will fetch 95 + percentiles in DILR. 

Quantitative Ability

This section was comparatively easier (in terms of level of difficulty) as compared to last year’s slots and was dominated by Arithmetic (8 questions), followed by Algebra (5 questions). There were 3 questions on Geometry, 3 questions on Modern Math and 1 on Numbers. In Arithmetic, the questions were on SICI, Time and Work, Time-Speed-Distance, Ratio Proportion, Mixtures & Alligations, Multiple operations, and Profit & Loss. In Algebra, the questions were dominated by Quadratic equations, Inequality with graphs, Functions, Identity-based questions, etc. In Modern Math, the questions were on Logarithms, Sequences, Permutations etc. In Geometry, the questions were on Quadrilaterals, Sphere with cuboids, etc. There were questions on remainders and numbers.

Number of TITA (8 questions) and MCQ (14 questions) in this section.

Attempting the right questions was the key. 

An attempt of 7 or 8 questions with an accuracy of approximately 80% will fetch around an 85 %ile score in QA.  

An attempt of 9 or 10 questions with an accuracy of approximately 85% will fetch 95 + percentiles in QA. 

THE PROCESS

At many centres, shoes and metallic objects (including metal jewellery) were not allowed. Only the admit card and the ID proof were allowed. As in the previous years, the authorities took possession of the admit cards. The candidates were given a small pad with IIM CAT Logo on the cover for rough work, and a pen – which were also taken away at the end of the exam.

TEST INTERFACE

The test interface was user-friendly and exactly the one provided in the official CAT Mock Test. A simple calculator was provided, and not a scientific one. There was an arrow provided near the question palette which when clicked expanded the question window to full-screen view by hiding the question palette & vice versa

At the end of the test, a summary of the number of questions attempted, visited, and not visited was displayed for each section.

There was a button marked ‘Question Paper’ that opened up a screen containing all the questions of the section. This was used by students for planning their approach for the section.

The scores and percentiles mentioned in this analysis are indicators based on feedback from students and IMS experts. They are in no way related to the results that IIMs are expected to declare in January 2025. You are advised to wait for the results.

Analysis by CATKing

Sumit Singh Gandhi, CEO and Founder CATKing

CAT 2024 Slot 3 Analysis: A Balanced Test of Skill and Strategy

Slot 3 of CAT 2024 upheld the exam’s reputation for diversity in question types, moderate complexity, and the need for strategic time management. While the paper was considered slightly lengthier than previous slots, it remained balanced, with ample opportunities for aspirants to secure high scores with focused attempts.

In the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) section, the difficulty was rated moderate, with at least two RCs being highly doable. Topics spanned science, literature, and travel, requiring critical reading skills. VA included Paracompletion and Parasummary questions, with the Odd-One-Out (OOC) set featuring very close options, demanding precision in selection.

Pointers for VARC:

RC Themes:

• Exploration of the solar system – Negative tone.
• AI's impact on language and culture – Negative tone.
• Literature-based RC – Long and challenging.
• Travel-based RC – Easier.
• VA Performance:
• Paracompletion – 3 questions.
• Parasummary – 2 abstract and long questions.
• Odd-One-Out – Tricky with close options.
• 99%ile Cutoff Estimate: 12–13 questions correct.

The Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) section featured a mix of moderate to challenging sets, requiring proficiency in arithmetic concepts, logical reasoning, and visualization. While some sets involved intricate calculations, others emphasized data analysis and deductive logic.

Pointers for DILR:

• Set 1: GDP data comparison across countries (fractions and ratios). – Moderate but calculation-heavy.
• Set 2: AC performance analysis based on outside and inside temperatures (graph-based). – Moderate.
• Set 3: Nutritional breakdown of food items (LR). – Doable.
• Set 4: Routes and network of ATMs (distance and placement). – Moderate.

In the Quantitative Ability (QA) section, arithmetic is dominated by 10 questions, offering aspirants a good chance to maximize scores. Geometry, Algebra, and Number System questions appeared less frequently but balanced the section's overall coverage.

Pointers for QA:

• Arithmetic (10 questions):
• TSD problem on alternating workdays – Doable.
• Mileage problem – Doable.
• Geometry (2 questions):
• Octagon problem – Doable.
• Algebra (4–5 questions):
• Problem with 
• 52+root3– Doable.
• Functions problem (f(x)+2) – Tough.
• Number System (2 questions):
• Remainder problem – Doable.

Conclusion

CAT 2024 Slot 3 continued the trend of testing adaptability with nuanced challenges. While the VARC and QA sections were more approachable with proper strategy, DILR demanded careful prioritization and logical acumen. The slot struck a fine balance between being fair and rigorous, ensuring that consistent preparation and time management were key differentiators for high-performing aspirants